Billy Martin, who had two hits in Game 1, receives congratulations from teammates (
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Fred Gallo made it clear to his players exactly how he felt about their performance in a first-place tiebreaker game with Fordham Prep.
“It was the worst performance by any of my teams at any time,” said Iona Prep coach, who is in his 28th season . “The absolute worst.”
But they bounced back.
The sixth-seeded Gaels, who made six errors against the Rams, swept No. 12 Cardinal Spellman in their CHSAA Class AA baseball third-round, best-of-three series, finishing it off with a 6-1 win in Game 2 at Fordham University on Monday night. Iona, which used five pitchers over two games, won the first contest 2-0. The Gaels advance to the championship round starting Wednesday against an opponent to be determined.
“We had gone into that [Fordham] game with total confidence,” third baseman Billy Martin said. “We thought we were going to win that game with too much confidence.”
One thing Iona (14-6) has never lost faith in is it deep stable of pitching, even with UConn-bound Matt D’Ariano likely out for the season with a groin injury he obtained in Game 1. Joey Finnegan was superb in Game 2 allowing just one run on three hits while striking out four over five innings. Reliever Vinny Martin (no relation to Billy) fanned five of the eight batters he faced in the final two frames.
“We all have confident in all our pitchers,” Finnegan said. “It doesn’t matter who comes in after you. We are all ready.”
Gallo admits that his offense won’t be knocking any walls down, but they are efficient, balanced and find ways to score runs. Ryan Crowley and Matt Brembs both had RBI singles in the top of the second inning of Game 2 to make it 2-0. Spellman (10-10) got on the board in the bottom of the frame thank to a run-scoring double from Will Hodges cutting the lead to 2-1.
The Gaels broke the game open with four runs with two outs in the fifth. Spellman starter Malik Dixon was replaced by Hodges with runners on first and second with one out thanks to walks. Martin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. A throwing error on a ground ball to third brought home the next run. John Sprio singled to left and an overthrow on the relay allowed a second run to score to make it 6-1.
“When we get runners on we execute,” said Martin, the hitting star of Game 1
Spellman coach Lou Brescia told his team, which has just one starting senior, after the game that it has helped turned the program around. The future is very bright especially with sophomore ace Nick Padilla expected back from a sore arm. Their youth led to some costly mistakes in both games. In Game 1, Spellman had a runner picked off second with two on in the third down just 1-0.
“We are turning the corner,” Brescia said.
Iona hopes it is doing the same after losing to Fordham Prep, a team it could see in the next round. By sweeping, it also set up its pitching well with Temple-bound ace Tim McCarthy able to come back and pitch the first game of the championship round.
“We’re ready,” Finnegan said. “We have been wanting to make a run since the beginning of the season.”
Iona Prep 3, Cardinal Spellman 0 (Game 1): Billy Martin had two hits and two RBIs and Vinny DeMaria collected two hits of his own and scored twice for Iona. Dan Fischer added an RBI single. Nic Figari tossed four innings of one-hit, scoreless relief in place of injured starter Matt D’Ariano (groin).